A/Cross Sections: New Manitoba Writing is a generous overview and thorough exploration of a quarter century of Manitoba writing. The work offers a rich assortment of stories, poems, memoirs, excerpts from journal entries, novels and plays, essays, anecdotes and fables, with occasional forays into drama, fantasy, horror, humour, journalism, travel, and young adult writing. This book is truly a representative cross section of writerly creativity in Manitoba. It has been lovingly edited and introduced by Katherine Bitney and Andris Taskans. This anthology is a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Manitoba Writers’ Guild. It includes work by 92 contributors, many of whom are regarded as the finest Manitoba writers of the past three decades: David Bergen, Sandra Birdsell, Di Brandt, Marvin Francis, Patrick Friesen, Linda Holeman, Catherine Hunter, Sylvia Legris, Jake MacDonald, Sheldon Oberman, Carol Shields, Margaret Sweatman, Miriam Toews, Armin Wiebe, and many more. A/Cross Sections is a meeting and merging of the literal and literary landscapes of Manitoba. Although most of the contributors live in Winnipeg, A/Cross Sections includes work by rural writers, Manitoba writers who now live elsewhere, and cherished writers who have passed on. It is the largest assemblage of new Manitoba writing ever collected between two covers and, as a reader, you may find yourself falling in love with the exhilarating variety that is our literary heritage.

Born in England, Katherine Bitney grew up in Saskatchewan and has spent most of her life on the prairies. A founding member of the Manitoba Writers’ Guild and Prairie Fire magazine (formerly Writers News Manitoba) Katherine has authored three previous collections of poetry. Recently she has collaborated with composer Sid Robinovitch and soundscapist Ken Gregory on the Boreality Project to create sacred music for the Boreal Forest. She lives and writes in Winnipeg.

Katherine Bitney's profile page

Katharine Bitney was born in England, grew up in Saskatchewan, and has lived in Winnipeg since 1971. A founder of the Manitoba Writers? Guild and Prairie Fire, Bitney is author of While You Were Out and Heart and Stone.

Andris Taskans' profile page